The One He Protected///Gravity Falls Fanfic///TW in desc.

Carrie

Her life - what it once was - flashed before her eyes. Everything flooded back.

Her mother, Donna, and father, Thomas, hadn't wanted a second child. Donna had made that very clear to her all her life. "You weren't wanted, ya know that?" She'd say practically every week. Ida couldn't look at her when she said that. If she didn't see the hatred in her mother's eyes, she could pretend it didn't exist.

"I know, Mama." She'd say. Donna would click her tongue, glaring at her cigarette as if it were her daughter. "Your brother was wanted." She'd say, a venom in her voice. "I know, Mama." She'd repeat.

When Thomas and Donna would fight, Ida heard. Not that she wanted to, but she wasn't allowed to close her bedroom door. For the first few months, her brother would hold her close and whisper that they'd stop soon. Then, he became cold, refused her hugs, and glared if she tried talking to him.

A part of her always wanted to forgive Ethan, since he'd once been kind. Then, she told herself that if he truly cared about her, he wouldn't have treated her like he eventually did.

"I KNOW YA DID IT!" Donna screamed, grabbing a nearby cup and throwing it at Thomas. He didn't look her in the eyes. "Why would you do this!?" Thomas glared at her. "She loves me, an' I swear on my life I didn't ever sleep with her."

Donna struck him. He didn't scream - he never did. Instead, he looked at her calmly and said, "I'm done. We're done. You're a drunk, and I'm tired of coming home to that."

And like that, Thomas Micheals and Donna Smith finally confirmed they were no longer in love.

They hadn't noticed Ida standing in the hallway, watching. She was eight. Ethan emerged behind her and shoved her to the side. "Your fault." He hissed, his eyes glittering with tears. Ida didn't understand.

Her fault?

"Our family doesn't need you!" He screamed. That caught their parent's attention. "Ethan!" Thomas yelled. Ida ran - something she was good at. She ran out the front door, her heart thumping in her ears.

The park. Birch trees were scattered about, seeming like eyes watching her. Still, that place was perfect. So, she sat herself under a tree and cried.

She didn't understand. This was her family - her life. And now what would it become...?

That was when she sensed something- someone near her. The birch trees' eyes burned into her body, like they were staring. She looked up, and there he was...

A demon. And from him, a deal emerged. All she had to do was live. And he would protect her. She didn't quite know from what. He gave her a necklace; a black star with gold trim. He told her it would call for him. Ida might've been young, but she was no fool. If she told Donna, her mother would snatch that necklace and scream at her for taking things from demons. She might've even called her cursed, or said she could summon them.

So, Ida never told her family anything that happened.

Soon, her home became a warzone. Screaming, hitting, hurting all around. Still, Ida had Bill. Thomas moved in with the woman Donna had accused him of sleeping with, a woman named Lily.

Lily was unlike anyone Ida knew before. She radiated an air that was comforting. She'd speak of faraway places unlike anything Ida knew. A place where people of any kind could live peacefully. No wars, pain, suffering, or hate.

Donna called Lily, "One of those no-good, lying, stupid hippies."

Ida called Lily, "Momma."

If she wasn't happy at home, maybe school could be that place of peace Lily spoke of. Right?